Jochen Halfar

Global dominance of coralline red-algal facies: A response to Miocene oceanographic events

Rhodoliths (free-living coralline red algae) can thrive under a wide range of temperatures, reduced light, and increased nutrient levels, and often form a distinct so-called rhodalgal lithofacies that is an important component of Cenozoic shallow-water carbonates. Global distributions illustrate that from the late-early to early-late Miocene (Burdigalian-early Tortonian), rhodalgal facies reached peak abundances and commonly replaced coral-reef environments, accompanied by a decline in other carbonate-producing phototrophs. We argue that the dominance of red algae over coral reefs was triggered in the Burdigalian by enhanced trophic resources associated with a global increase in productivity, as evidenced by a long-term shift toward higher carbon isotope values. Rhodalgal lithofacies expanded further in the middle Miocene when strengthened thermal gradients associated with the establishment of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet led to enhanced upwelling while climate change generated increased weathering rates, introducing land-derived nutrients into the oceans. Globally cooler temperatures following a climatic optimum in the early-middle Miocene contributed to sustain the dominance of red algae and prevented the recovery of coral reefs. The global shift in nearshore shallow-water carbonate producers to groups tolerant of higher levels of trophic resources provides further evidence for increased nutrient levels during that time interval and shows the sensitivity of shallow-water carbonate facies as indicators of past oceanographic conditions.

Nutrient and temperature controls on modern carbonate production: An example from the Gulf of California, Mexico

In addition to salinity and temperature, nutrient concentrations in surface waters are known to have a significant impact on distribution of carbonate-producing biota, but have never been quantitatively evaluated against different temperatures along a latitudinal transect. The western coast of the Gulf of California, Mexico, presents a natural laboratory for investigating the influence of oceanographic parameters such as salinity, temperature, and chlorophyll a, a proxy for nutrients, on the composition of a range of modern heterozoan and photozoan carbonate environments along a north-south latitudinal gradient spanning the entire warm-temperate realm (29°N–23°N). Chlorophyll a, measured in situ at half-hour resolution, is highly variable throughout the year due to short-term upwelling, and increases significantly from the southern to northern Gulf of California. Salinity, in contrast, fluctuates little and remains at an average of 35‰. From south to north, carbonate production ranges from oligotrophic-mesotrophic, coral reef– dominated shallow-water areas (minimum temperature 18.6 °C) through mesotrophic-eutrophic, red algal–dominated, inner-shelf carbonate production in the central gulf (minimum temperature 16 °C), and to molluscan-bryozoan, eutrophic inner- to outer-shelf environments (minimum temperature 13.7 °C). The Gulf of California data, supplemented with oceanographic and compositional information from a database compiled from a spectrum of modern carbonate systems worldwide, demonstrates the significance of nutrient control in the formation of heterozoan, photozoan, and transitional heterozoan-photozoan carbonate systems and serves as a basis for more accurately interpreting fossil carbonates.

Growth and high‐resolution paleoenvironmental signals of rhodoliths (coralline red algae): A new biogenic archive

We investigated rhodoliths (coralline red algae) from a subtropical locality in the Gulf of California (Lithothamnium crassiusculum) and a subarctic locality in Newfoundland (Lithothamnium glaciale) for their potential as paleoenvironmental archives using microanalytical geochemical techniques to measure variations in δ18O, Mg, and Ca. Rhodoliths are potentially well suited as recorders of shallow water paleoenvironmental signals because they (1) have worldwide distribution from the tropics to polar regions, (2) are long lived from decades to centuries, and (3) display well-developed growth bands. Our results indicate that rhodolith growth bands preserve ultrahigh-resolution records of paleoceanographic-paleoclimatic change and likely constitute an important new archive for reconstructing the paleoenvironmental history of littoral-neritic areas in which these algae are found. The δ18O content of individually sampled rhodolith growth bands ranges from −2.4 to −4.6‰ in L. crassiusculum and from −3.2 to −0.3‰ in L. glaciale. In both cases, the range of δ18O values suggests a slightly lower amplitude of variation in sea surface temperature than that actually measured in the ocean at the two study sites. Both L. crassiusculum and L. glaciale show a negative offset from isotopic equilibrium. Electron microprobe analysis of magnesium and calcium in growth bands reveals cyclic variations with values ranging between 7.7–18.5 mol % MgCO3 in L. glaciale and 13.2–22.5 mol % MgCO3 in L. crassiusculum. In addition, electron microprobe element maps highlight individual growth bands, provide a powerful approach to study rhodolith formation, and indicate that the specimens we analyzed have vertical growth rates of 250–450 μm/yr.

Coralline red algae as high-resolution climate recorders

Most high-resolution, proxy-based paleoclimate research has concentrated on tropical oceans, while mid- and high-latitude marine regions have received less attention, despite their importance in the global climate system. At present, sclerochronological analyses of bivalve mollusks supply the bulk of annual- to subannual-resolution extratropical marine climate data, even though interpretation is complicated by a slowdown of growth with increasing shell age. Hence, in order to address the need for additional high-resolution proxy climate data from extratropical regions, we conducted the first year-long in situ field calibration of the coralline red alga Clathromorphum compactum in the Gulf of Maine, United States. Coralline red algae are widely distributed in coastal regions worldwide, and individual calcified plants can live continuously for several centuries in temperate and subarctic oceans. Stable oxygen isotopes extracted at subannual resolution from growth increments of monitored specimens of C. compactum relate well to in situ–measured sea-surface temperatures during the May to December calcification period, highlighting the suitability of coralline red algae as an extratropical climate archive. Furthermore, there is a strong correlation between a 30 yr σ 18 O record of C. compactum and an instrumental sea-surface temperature record ( r = −0.58, p = 0.0008) and a proxy reconstruction derived from the bivalve Arctica islandica collected in the central Gulf of Maine ( r = 0.54, p = 0.002).

High-resolution Mg/Ca ratios in a coralline red alga as a proxy for Bering Sea temperature variations from 1902 To 1967

Abstract We present the first continuous, high-resolution record of Mg/Ca variations within an encrusting coralline red alga, Clathromorphum nereostratum, from Amchitka Island, Aleutian Islands. Mg/Ca ratios of individual growth increments were analyzed by measuring a single-point, electron-microprobe transect, yielding a resolution of ∼15 samples/year and a 65-year record (1902–1967) of variations. Results show that Mg/Ca ratios in the high-Mg calcite algal framework display pronounced annual cyclicity and archive late spring–late fall sea-surface temperatures (SST) corresponding to the main season of algal growth. Mg/Ca values correlate well to local SST, as well as to an air temperature record from the same region. High spatial correlation to large-scale SST variability in the subarctic North Pacific is observed, with patterns of strongest correlation following the direction of major oceanographic features that play a key role in the exchange of water masses between the North Pacific and the Bering Sea. Our data correlate well with a shorter Mg/Ca record from a second site, corroborating the ability of the alga to reliably record regional environmental signals. In addition, Mg/Ca ratios relate well to a 29-year δ18O time series measured on the same sample, providing additional support for the use of Mg in coralline red algae as a paleotemperature proxy that, unlike algal-δ18O, is not influenced by salinity fluctuations. Moreover, electron microprobe–based analysis enables higher sampling resolution and faster analysis, thus providing a promising approach for future studies of longer C. nereostratum records and applications to other coralline species.

Precautionary management of deep-sea mining

Interest in deep-sea mining developed in the early 1970s, with a focus on manganese nodules in international waters. Mining may actually occur first, however, on rich polymetallic sulfide deposits associated with hydrothermal vents within exclusive economic zones. Even though mining for polymetallic sulfides may not take place for several years, precautionary performance standards, environmental regulations, and the establishment of Marine Protected Areas may help guide the marine mining industry toward a goal of minimizing environmental impacts. Once substantial investments in prospecting and exploring a potential mining site are made, implementation of environmental regulations may prove to be much more difficult.

Arctic sea-ice decline archived by multicentury annual-resolution record from crustose coralline algal proxy

Significance The most concerning example of ongoing climate change is the rapid Arctic sea-ice retreat. While just a few years ago ice-free Arctic summers were expected by the end of this century, current models predict this to happen by 2030. This shows that our understanding of rapid changes in the cryosphere is limited, which is largely due to a lack of long-term observations. Newly discovered long-lived algae growing on the Arctic seafloor and forming tree-ring–like growth bands in a hard, calcified crust have recorded centuries of sea-ice history. The algae show that, while fast short-term changes have occurred in the past, the 20th century exhibited the lowest sea-ice cover in the past 646 years. Northern Hemisphere sea ice has been declining sharply over the past decades and 2012 exhibited the lowest Arctic summer sea-ice cover in historic times. Whereas ongoing changes are closely monitored through satellite observations, we have only limited data of past Arctic sea-ice cover derived from short historical records, indirect terrestrial proxies, and low-resolution marine sediment cores. A multicentury time series from extremely long-lived annual increment-forming crustose coralline algal buildups now provides the first high-resolution in situ marine proxy for sea-ice cover. Growth and Mg/Ca ratios of these Arctic-wide occurring calcified algae are sensitive to changes in both temperature and solar radiation. Growth sharply declines with increasing sea-ice blockage of light from the benthic algal habitat. The 646-y multisite record from the Canadian Arctic indicates that during the Little Ice Age, sea ice was extensive but highly variable on subdecadal time scales and coincided with an expansion of ice-dependent Thule/Labrador Inuit sea mammal hunters in the region. The past 150 y instead have been characterized by sea ice exhibiting multidecadal variability with a long-term decline distinctly steeper than at any time since the 14th century.

Freshening of the Alaska Coastal Current recorded by coralline algal Ba/Ca ratios

Arctic Ocean freshening can exert a controlling influence on global climate, triggering strong feedbacks on ocean‐atmospheric processes and affecting the global cycling of the world’s oceans. Glacier‐fed ocean currents such as the Alaska Coastal Current are important sources of freshwater for the Bering Sea shelf, and may also influence the Arctic Ocean freshwater budget. Instrumental data indicate a multiyear freshening episode of the Alaska Coastal Current in the early 21st century. It is uncertain whether this freshening is part of natural multidecadal climate variability or a unique feature of anthropogenically induced warming. In order to answer this, a better understanding of past variations in the Alaska Coastal Current is needed. However, continuous long‐term high‐resolution observations of the Alaska Coastal Current have only been available for the last 2 decades. In this study, specimens of the long‐lived crustose coralline alga Clathromorphum nereostratum were collected within the pathway of the Alaska Coastal Current and utilized as archives of past temperature and salinity. Results indicate that coralline algal Mg/Ca ratios provide a 60 year record of sea surface temperatures and track changes of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, a pattern of decadal‐to‐multidecadal ocean‐atmosphere climate variability centered over the North Pacific. Algal Ba/Ca ratios (used as indicators of coastal freshwater runoff) are inversely correlated to instrumentally measured Alaska Coastal Current salinity and record the period of freshening from 2001 to 2006. Similar multiyear freshening events are not evident in the earlier portion of the 60 year Ba/Ca record. This suggests that the 21st century freshening of the Alaska Coastal Current is a unique feature related to increasing glacial melt and precipitation on mainland Alaska.

Microfacies Analysis of Recent Carbonate Environments in the Southern Gulf of California, Mexico — A Model for Warm-Temperate to Subtropical Carbonate Formation

Abstract The La Paz area in the southwestern Gulf of California, Mexico, provides an ideal site for studying Recent warm-temperate to subtropical carbonate environments. Carbonate factories include small pocket bays, a rhodolith dominated carbonate shelf, and a mixed-carbonate siliciclastic high-energy beach. Underwater mapping and constituent analysis have revealed free-living coralline red algae in the form of rhodoliths to be the main carbonate producers, contributing 33% of the biogenic constituents to the sediment. Other significant contributions come from corals (20%), molluscs (18%), echinoderms (5%), and benthic foraminifera (4%). The benthic foraminiferal community includes mixtures of tropical and temperate species. This compositional pattern stands in marked contrast to (1) better-studied coral and green algae dominated tropical carbonate systems and (2) foraminifer, bryozoan, and mollusc dominated cool-water carbonates. Cluster analyses of biogenic constituents and benthic foraminifera revealed distinctive coral, coralline red algal, and molluscan microfacies. However, subdivisions characterized by benthic foraminifera more closely reflect the bottom facies observed during underwater mapping as opposed to patterns defined by cluster analysis of biogenic components. Diagnostic features for interpreting similar environments found in the fossil record include the (1) co-occurrence of coralline red algae and corals together with the absence of calcareous green algae, (2) presence of 5–10 genera of larger benthic foraminifera, (3) laterally and vertically not extensive character of environments, and (4) changes of microfacies over short distances.

First evidence of chitin in calcified coralline algae: new insights into the calcification process of Clathromorphum compactum

Interest in calcifying coralline algae has been increasing over the past years due to the discovery of extensive coralline algal dominated ecosystems in Arctic and Subarctic latitudes, their projected sensitivity to ocean acidification and their utility as palaeoenvironmental proxies. Thus, it is crucial to obtain a detailed understanding of their calcification process. We here extracted calcified skeletal organic matrix components including soluble and insoluble fractions from the widely-distributed Subarctic and Arctic coralline alga Clathromorphum compactum. The lyophilized skeletal organic matrix fractions showed comparatively high concentrations of soluble and insoluble organic matrices comprising 0.9% and 4.5% of skeletal weight, respectively. This is significantly higher than in other skeletal marine calcifiers. Attenuated Total Reflection-Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) results indicate that chitin is present in the skeletal organic matrices of C. compactum. This polymer exhibits similar hierarchical structural organizations with collagen present in the matrix and serves as a template for nucleation and controls the location and orientation of mineral phases. Chitin contributes to significantly increasing skeletal strength, making C. compactum highly adapted for living in a shallow high-latitude benthic environment. Furthermore, chitin containing polysaccharides can increase resistance of calcifiers to negative effects of ocean acidification.